1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to manipulator welding apparatus with a vision system for weld seam tracking and more particularly to manipulator apparatus including improved hand arrangements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various welding apparatus and vision detection systems have been proposed. For example, copending application Ser. No. 239,621 filed by I. Masaki on Mar. 2, 1980 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,696 provide methods and apparatus for detecting the positional deviation of a workpiece from a reference position by means of a visual detection system and an image processor and provides methods and apparatus for performing welding based on corrected work path data. Further, the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,696 provides improve sensing hands and welding hands for accomplishing welding and weld seam tracking.
As disclosed and discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,696, it is desirable to provide a projection unit, an image detecting camera, and a welding gun on a hand carried by a manipulator arm with the manipulator arm selectively rotating the hand to present either the welding gun or the projection unit and camera to a workpiece. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,696 also discloses selectively attachable sensing hands and welding hands.